The invention relates to an application tool in the manner of a crayon or pencil, for applying a coating material to a substrate surface, having a shaft, on which the tool can be gripped, and having a reservoir which is accommodated in the shaft for supplying with the coating material, the tool being provided with a tool head which has an applicator and by means of which the coating material passes onto the substrate surface, and having a valve which is arranged between the reservoir and the tool head with its valve body which, upon actuation, changing from a closed position into an open position and, in the latter position, discharges a quantity of the coating material from the reservoir to the applicator for application to the surface.
Application tools of this type are well known for applying a protective, decorative or functional layer and are often configured in a type of pen form, with the result that they can be handled particularly simply, differently shaped applicators making very different ways of application possible. Here, a common feature of the different application tools can be, for example, that the valve actuation is triggered by way of exertion of a certain pressure by the operator via the shaft on the applicator or a part which is connected to the latter, which valve actuation brings about the release of the coating material from the reservoir. In the growing, so-called “fine art” field in the sector of decorative coatings, for example, application tools of this type can be configured for instance as so-called pump markers in pen form. In addition, the application tools in general and their reservoirs can also be provided with other containers which can be closed for instance by way of connections which are to be screwed or plugged.
For example, GB 252 428 A has disclosed a pen-like application tool for the application of ink, in which application tool a cosmetic which is to be applied to a surface or an ink as coating material is solid form is to make contact directly with the substrate surface and is supplied with a solvent from a reservoir. Moreover, JP 61 021412 U has disclosed a pen-like application tool which is capable of discharging a coating material. In said application tool, the reservoir is configured as a container which is independent of the shaft and can be fed in for replacement purposes from the side which faces away from the applicator, as a result of which refilling requires a certain dexterity and is often associated with undesired contamination.
After emptying of its reservoir, the application tool can be passed to recycling, which can be the case relatively rapidly in the case of a correspondingly intensive use or limited reservoir. In order to avoid this, it has firstly already been proposed to refill the reservoir of the application tool via a closable opening in the rear region, in particular on a bottom face of the application tool. This is usually complicated and not a particularly satisfactory solution due to the usually existing instability of the tool in the upright state, since, during refilling, falling over of the tool constantly has to be feared with corresponding contamination in the surroundings by way of the coating material. The proposal to deposit the tool on its bottom which faces away from the tool head and to remove a valve which is held in an opening of the reservoir for refilling appears to be likewise complicated and not very practicable because the manufacture of the application tool would be made tremendously more expensive as a result. In order to provide a minimum amount of stability for this operation, the bottom region of the tool would possibly have to be expanded disproportionately in comparison with its other dimensions, and secondly removal and reattachment of the valve without contamination taking place would be extremely rare.